If you think Atwater stinks, this might be why

The Bureau of Sanitation plans to spend $700,000 to keep fumes and odor from venting out of the sewer system and through more than 100 Atwater Village homes.

The project will target 113 houses, most of them located on Glenfeliz Boulevard between Los Feliz and Glendale boulevards. The homes direct connections to a 1929 sewer line allow odors and fumes to travel through the homes and into the air through rooftop vents, according to a bureau official who spoke at last week’s Atwater Village Neighborhood Council meeting.

Starting in September, four contractors hired by the city will begin installing traps on the sewer connections to prevent the smelly odors from traveling through the houses and out vents on the roofs. The bureau anticipates finishing installation by late November.

The city will send legally required notices to residents along Glenfeliz requesting permission to access their property to install the gas traps and CCTV cameras underground to monitor the connection. The letters will appear in mailboxes starting next week, according to Wastewater Collections Division Manager Barry Berggren.

In addition to adding new gas traps on Glenfeliz, the city has already installed a carbon scrubber, which removes noxious gases from the air, a few blocks away at corner of Hollydale Drive and Silver Lake Boulevard to combat the stench. The bureau is also adding magnesium hydroxide into the sewer to lessen the stench.

The project will be funded from regular sewage maintenance fees.

Tony Cella is a freelance reporter who has covered crime and grime in Los Angeles, New York City and the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. Click here to contact Cella with questions, comments or concerns.

3 comments

Our family has lived at 3765 legion Lane for 34years…we have suffered with the stench of gas coming through our pipes all these years.
Please advise on how to have this also amended and cleared away just as the ValleyBrinl/Glen Feliz neighbors are having done. ???
Who do I call???
Vivian, Ed Ian and Devin Flynn 323-663-3417

Hope they give the homeowners instructions on how to unblock their main line should it get stopped up. I don’t know of any conventional rooter that can navigate a “P” trap. These homeowners are probably going to be relegated to using hydro-blasting services only…

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